The impact was deafening. Jace and Lucian slammed through a reinforced steel wall, the resulting explosion of sparks briefly illuminating their twisted forms mid-air. Before Jace could stabilize himself, Lucian's glider kicked in again twin turbines roaring to life as he zipped backward and spun, launching a volley of metallic discs from the underside of his arm. The projectiles whirled with precision, one slicing through a nearby pipe and another detonating near Jace’s side, sending him sprawling. Lucian wasn’t wasting time. He twisted into the air with fluid grace, using the glider’s aerial dominance to stay out of Jace’s reach, darting between ceiling beams and ducking into narrow vents. His mechanical arm whirred and hissed as it transformed between modes—a sudden burst of laser fire carving glowing lines into the walls, followed by a concussive pulse from the wrist that blew apart crates and sent shrapnel flying. A steel spike jutted from his knuckles as he dove with a brutal downward punch, but Jace rolled and rose with a surge of strength, narrowly avoiding the strike.

  All around them, chaos had taken root. Distant booms echoed through the complex as rival factions clashed in steel corridors and reinforced labs. Operatives still loyal to Lucian fought with trained precision, wielding stun cannons and sonic shields, pushing back those who dared defy his rule. Among the resistance were newer recruits and veterans all united by a shared rage and the memory of Axel’s better leadership and differences in Lucian's disdainful approach towards enhanced. The halls had become a war zone. Even from a distance, Jace could hear the screams, the blasts, and the roar of collapsing steel. But none of it mattered right now. Right now, it was just him and Lucian.

  Lucian circled overhead, laughing breathlessly. “You’re still trying to play the hero, Jace?” he called out, voice echoing through the room. “You’re not built for this.” But the moment of arrogance cost him. Jace seized an opportunity, lunging forward and catching the glider by its wing as Lucian attempted another swooping attack. With a savage roar, he anchored his feet into the concrete, swinging Lucian like a ragdoll into a wall. Metal crumpled. Sparks rained. Jace’s fists found purchase, one punch cracking the glider chassis, the next ripping off a wing entirely. The glider faltered, sputtered, and collapsed in a heap of shattered alloy.

  Lucian cursed and disengaged, using his grappling line to fling himself across the room and into a side hallway. Jace gave chase, blood dripping down his cheek, breathing hard, eyes burning with purpose. They tore through corridors, down shattered stairwells, bursting through reinforced doors, falling deeper and deeper into the belly of the CDE headquarters. Lucian hurled debris behind him—heavy consoles, chairs, pieces of wall itself—his metallic arm enhancing every throw. Jace batted them aside or barreled through, like a storm that refused to be stopped.

  Then, Lucian made it. They entered a massive underground chamber—once a prototype testing zone—filled with broken equipment, shattered displays, and sparking machinery. Lucian stumbled toward a massive reinforced pod at the back wall, slamming his hand into a biometric scanner. A hiss of steam. The floor opened. And a towering suit of armor, bulky and matte black, rose like a monster from the dark.

  But he didn’t step in yet. Not yet.

  Lucian turned slowly, blood on his lips, panting. His lone eye gleamed behind a cracked visor. The other side of his face was ruined—deep scar tissue trailing from his jaw to his temple, where a hollow, burned socket sat where an eye used to be. His left arm whirred and hissed with exposed gears and sleek plating, fingers twitching with faint arcs of electricity.

  “You want to know why I hate your kind so much?” he spat, voice low. “This is why.” He raised the metal arm and gestured to the mangled half of his face. “One of you freaks did this. I was a police rookie on a simple domestic violence report when the bastard husband with spikes coming out of his hands ost it.. Lost my partner, lost my arm, lost my goddamn eye.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Jace’s brows furrowed, the rage in him softening slightly—just slightly—as he took in Lucian’s scarred form.

  “I’m sorry that happened to you,” Jace said, voice steady but firm. “But you can’t judge every enhanced person by the worst ones. You think you’re the only one who’s lost something because of power? We’ve all lost people. We’ve all been hurt. But that doesn’t give you the right to become the thing you hate.”

  Lucian stared at him for a moment—then chuckled. The laugh grew, hollow and bitter, until it echoed around the room like broken glass.

  He took a step back toward the armor pod. “The deal I made with The Maker… it was the only way. He agreed to stop experimenting on normal humans. In exchange, we gave him access to enhanced freaks. That's mercy in my book.” He grinned cruelly. “You don’t cage animals out of hatred. You do it because they’re dangerous.”

  Jace’s fists clenched. “You don’t even hear yourself. You think you’re saving humanity, but all you're doing is becoming the very monster you claim to be protecting them from.”

  Lucian raised his chin. “You talk like you know what sacrifice is. Like you’ve had to make the hard decisions.” Then he turned toward the rising suit of armor. “I’ve been preparing this since the day I met you. I knew you were a problem. So I had this built. Enhanced with confiscated tech we recovered from Maker labs. Every weapon, every system—calibrated with you in mind.”

  The armor hissed open like the maw of a beast. He stepped in.

  Piece by piece, it sealed around him—first the legs, then the chest, the arms, the helm. Red light gleamed behind the visor, and the weapons snapped into place—miniguns on the shoulders, laser ports embedded in the wrists, missile pods concealed in the forearms. The plating was thick, jagged, almost insectoid. A low hum filled the chamber as the reactor activated.

  Jace slowed, watching with disbelief as Lucian stepped into the machine, letting it engulf him piece by piece. Armor clicked and hissed into place, encasing his limbs, chest, and head until only glowing red slits marked his eyes. Lucian’s voice came next—distorted, mechanical, and merciless. “Let’s end this charade.”

  A hurricane of bullets erupted. Miniguns on his shoulders roared to life, riddling the walls and forcing Jace to dive for cover. Missiles streaked across the room, and a chest-mounted beam began charging, glowing brighter with each passing second. Jace fought to keep up, using shattered slabs of metal as shields, each one vaporized in seconds under the relentless assault.

  And then came the words.

  “You still think you’re the good guy in this?” Lucian snarled. “You enhanced freaks ruined everything. We had order—balance—until your kind started showing up, throwing buses, ripping through steel. You’re not people. You’re anomalies. And like all dangerous anomalies, you need to be contained or used.”

  Jace’s teeth clenched. His fingers curled into fists.

  Something snapped in Jace. His breathing shifted. His muscles tensed—not from fear, but fury. He stood tall, letting the next barrage of lasers glance off him, dodging with new clarity, stepping into his power with purpose. And then he charged.

  Lucian swung, massive fists laced with electrified plating. Jace ducked and countered, a brutal uppercut sending Lucian reeling. More bullets, more blasts—but Jace was moving faster now, angrier. Sharper.

  “These people didn’t choose to be like this! And they sure as hell didn’t ask to be dissected, imprisoned, and written off as nothing!” Jace roared. “You’re not protecting humanity. You’re hiding behind fear. Behind power.”

  Lucian tried to regain control, but Jace pressed harder, each blow a punctuation.

  “There are parents out there who still don’t know what happened to their kids. Who think they just… vanished. Some got the bodies back. Others didn’t even get that. And the ones who did?” His voice cracked. “They don’t know who did it. Or why. They think their children died in accidents. They don’t know they were slaughtered like lab rats in the dark.”

  Lucian’s rage broke through his calm. He roared and fired everything at once missiles, miniguns, beam but Jace met it all head on, stepping into the inferno. Pain was nothing. Rage was fuel.

  “You don’t get to decide who’s human. Not anymore.”

  And then through the smoke, through the ruin, through the storm Jace landed a final, thunderous blow that cracked Lucian’s chest plate open, but he was met with a punch to the face sending both he and the commander crashing back into the wall.

  Before anyone of them could stand up to continue, a tremor rocked the room. A low, unnatural rumble pulsed through the foundation. Sirens screamed as the walls shuddered.

  And somewhere above them, something or someone had arrived.